Earthbound: Jeff's Story
by Squirtle Goddess
Summary: The Earthbound story from Jeff's point of view. Finally updated!
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfic, so it's probably really bad...

I DO NOT OWN EARTHBOUND OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS (I wish I did though)

* * *

**Earthbound:**

**Jeff's Story**

Some people think boarding school would be fun. It could, but not if you've lived in one your whole life. My name is Jeff Andonuts, and I've lived in Snowwood Boarding School for as long as I can remember. I know my dad is working somewhere near Stonehenge, but only from the occasional letter he send me; I have no memory of actually meeting him. The only thing close to family I have is my roommate, Tony, who likes me in a creepy sort of way. He's a good friend though. Sometimes I wish I could leave this place and go see the rest of the world. All I know about the world I learned from books. I'm the best and smartest person here, but I always feel like there's something more important I have to do.

"…Jeff?"

"Hey Tony." Tony came in, closing the door behind him. He looked a little worried.

"You've seemed really depressed lately. What's wrong?"

"…It's nothing…"

"Jeff, I know you better than anyone else, I can tell something's wrong. You never act like this." Damn, why does he need to know so badly? I didn't want to tell anyone my plans.

"I'm waiting for a good time, then I'm running away from the school." If nobody knew, it would make leaving easier.

"What!? Why would you do that?" Tony was confused and shocked, why did he even care?

"I feel like there's something I have to do. I've been having these weird dreams lately, about a girl and three boys. I can only make out one face, and it's me. It has to mean something." They were strange dreams, there were three shadowy figures; a girl with a dress, long hair and a ribbon, a boy with a baseball hat and a backpack, a boy with a long ponytail, and me.

"Wow, that's weird. But you don't know anything for sure. What if you leave and you never meet these people?"

"I'll take that chance. But I'll meet them, I know I will."

"You sound pretty sure about this. Just tell me before you leave, okay?"

"Alright. Oh wow, it's late. We should probably get some sleep."

"Oh man, you're right! Night then." Tony got into bed and was asleep in a matter of seconds.

"…Night"

…_Hello?_

Another dream, the girl was talking to me this time, which never happened before.

_I am a friend you have never met, my name is Paula. I'm here with my friend, Ness._

Paula and Ness? Suddenly, two of the shadows in my dream became visible. The girl, Paula, had a pink dress, blonde hair, she also seemed to have a frying pan strapped to her back; one of the boys, Ness, had a red baseball hat, black hair, a striped yellow and blue t-shirt, blue pants and a baseball bat strapped to his back. The fourth shadow remained as it was.

_Please, if you can hear me, please answer…_

"He-hello?"

_Oh good, I was afraid you couldn't hear me._

"Uh… What's going on? Am I dreaming?"

_No, at least I hope not, we're trapped and we need help. …What's your name anyway?_

"Oh! Sorry, my name's Jeff." Then I realized, I was awake, I hadn't fallen asleep yet.

"Oh man, this isn't a dream. Where are you? How can I help?"

_Jeff, we're in Threek. We went into a hotel and were attacked by zombies._

"…"

_Ness thought it would be a good idea; also it might have something to do with the zombie girl…_

"Zombies?" this was getting weird.

_Threek has a zombie problem. Ness thought we should help the people out. Now we're stuck somewhere, the door is locked, and we can't blast it open._

"Well guess I have no choice but to help out. I've been waiting for a good time to leave this place, and this is probably a good time." Finally, a reason to leave this place.

_I'm sorry I can't really help you, but I appreciate this a lot._

_Hello? You said your name's Jeff, right?_ It was a boy's voice.

"Yeah, you're Ness?"

_Yeah, I'm not sure if you know this yet, but we're traveling to find 8 sacred spots in order to save the world. I was told that me and three other people would travel together. There's me and Paula, and probably you at this point, and another boy._

"So that's what my dreams meant…"

_You've had dreams too? Guess you really are one of the 'Chosen Four'._

"'Chosen Four',huh? Well, I better get going if I want to leave before anyone wakes up."

_Heh, okay then. Guess we'll be seeing you soon enough._ The voice vanished.

I sat up, I got some stuff together in a small bag, and before I left the room, I decided to wake Tony.

"Tony?"

"Hungh? Jeff? What's going on?"

"You asked me to tell you when I decided to leave."

"What? Now?" Tony seemed surprised that I was leaved so soon, "Well, let me help you get out of here, okay?"

"Alright."

"And tell me what happened so suddenly." Guess he had a right to know. So I told him about the conversation I had with Paula and Ness.

"Wow… that's kinda weird don't you think?"

"I really don't actually."

"How do you know it wasn't a prank call?"

"Tony…"

"What?"

"THEY WERE TALKING INTO MY MIND."

"Oh."

"Well, I'm leaving this place for good."

"Well," Tony said as he got up, "Let's break outta the school!"

"Just don't make to much noise, okay?"

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So, what do you think? Please review so the next chapter's better!


	2. Chapter 2

Tony picked up my bag and literally marched out of the room. This was probably going to take a while. Tony peeked in another room and found some cookies, and stuck a few of them in my bag.

"Oh, yeah! I remember seeing someone hiding a pop gun in the locker room downstairs. You could use that as a weapon."

"Why are you assuming that I need a weapon?"

"You're gonna need a weapon to fight zombies." He had a point there, so we went to the locker room, only to find that everything was locked.

"Someone has to have a key…" Tony has talking to himself, and he was probably planning on telling someone that I was leaving. We left the locker room and I followed Tony into the lab, where Maxwell was working on something.

"Maxwell?"

"Hi guys, what are you doing up so late?"

"Jeff's going to…"

"TONY!!" I knew he was planning on telling someone. Tony was never good at keeping secrets. "We were trying to get into the lockers, but someone locked them."

"That would have been me." Of course, Maxwell holds on to all the keys for the school.

"Can we have the key?" Tony seemed to be getting a little too excited about this…

"Sure, here you go." Maxwell handed Tony the key, who ran back to the locker room. When I got there, Tony had already come back out.

"The key doesn't work. I bet Max bent it on purpose." Tony is the only person I know who can go from super excited to annoyed in less than a minute.

"Well, let's go back and ask him." Tony was still grumbling.

"Maxwell?"

"Let me guess, the key doesn't work?" He was smiling, and I could tell that Tony was right.

"Yeah, do you know what we should do?"

"The smartest kid in school is asking for help?" Maxwell looked at me and I could tell what we wanted.

"You want me to figure it out on my own? How about you give us that tool you built when you bent the key?"

"I still don't get how you know so much about people without asking…" Actually, I don't either. I can read people's thoughts, but only enough to find out simple information like what they like, what they don't like and things the did recently.

"Just give it to me."

"Well here you go." Maxwell gave me a small tool that can unlock anything. This would also be useful when I get to Threek, Paula did say that she and Ness were locked in a room with no way out.

Tony was waiting for me outside the lab.

"Did you get something?"

"Yeah, this should be able to unlock anything." Another part of my ability was that I could tell what objects did just by looking at them.

"You're looking at it with your mind, aren't you?"

"Yeah, let's go back to the locker room and find that pop gun."

We started opening the lockers until we found it, and went outside. I looked at the gate. Tony and I walked up to the gate and Tony started crying a little.

"Jeff… I'm gonna miss you…" Tony hugged me, crying with his head on my shoulder.

"Tony, I'll come back, I don't know when, but I know I will." He looked up at me and nodded.

"Come on, I'll help you get over the gate," Tony got down on all fours in front of the gate. "Climb on my back and jump over the gate." I wondered if I should tell him that I could use the key I got, but decided not to.

When I got over the gate, I turned back to look at Tony and Snowwood for the last time for a while.

"Tony, thanks for helping me. Don't worry, I'll come back, I don't know when, but I know I will."

"Jeff?"

"Yeah?" Tony's face was red.

"I… never mind…" He looked down, still crying.

"I'll come back." I knew I shouldn't have, but I looked into Tony's mind, _I love you Jeff_. He really is a good friend, even if he's too afraid to tell me how he really feels. I looked away before Tony could figure out what I was doing. He looked up again.

"You should probably go before everyone finds out you left. Good luck on your adventure." He handed me my bag and turned around to go back inside.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to miss you too." I wanted him to feel better, so I reached through the gate and hugged him again.

Tony smiled, "Well, good bye then." And he walked back inside.

This was my first time outside the school, and I took a little time to explore the area. The first thing I saw surprised me. It was a drugstore, in the part of Winters that only has a school where the students aren't allowed to leave. I decided to stop in and was greeted by a… monkey? He smiled and pointed at a lady near the counter.

"(Buy some bubble gum!)" I had never realized that I could understand animals, probably because I had never actually met one. This power I have is pretty neat! I went over to the lady.

"Hi there, would you like some bubble gum? It's only one dollar." I looked in my bag, and saw that Tony stuck two dollars in there. It wasn't much, and the monkey did ask me to get it.

"Uh, yeah here." She gave me the gum and the monkey started dancing.

"Also, along with the gum, you get a free monkey." I looked down at the monkey who ran by my side.

"(Yay! Bubble gum! Can I have a piece?)" The monkey was looking at me with unnaturally big, sparkling eyes. I gave him I piece, with which he immediately blew a small bubble and floated around a bit.

We went back outside, and the monkey started 'talking' again.

"(Thanks for the gum! I'm the Bubble Monkey. What's your name?)"

"I'm Jeff. Do you mind if I call you Balloon?"

"(Yay! A real name! Okay, Jeff! Where are we going?)"

"I was told that I need to go to Threek, in Eagleland."

"(That's pretty far! Okay! I'll help in any way I can!)" We started walking towards the lake to the south.

"(Did you know that there's a monster in the lake here?)"

"Really? I find that kind of hard to believe."

"(Says the kid who can understand what a monkey is saying.)" I had only one thing to say to that.

"Touché." As we got closer to the lake, tents started popping up among the trees. Along with the tents were people with binoculars who looked like researchers.

"I wonder what's going on?"

"(Beats me, maybe you should ask one of them what they're doing.)" I wanted to say something back, but one of the people approached us.

"Are you looking for Tessie too?"

"Tessie?"

"(That's the monster of the lake!)"

"Oh. No, we're just passing through. We're trying to get to Stonehenge."

"Oh, well why don't you take a short rest and have some stew before you go on?" I nodded and he pointed us towards one of the tents.

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Chapter two, hope you liked it!

Also something I forgot to mention, since I played Mother 2 and not Earthbound, some things like towns and some objects will be referred to by their names in the Japanese version of the game. For example, Threed is Threek, and the Pencil Eraser is the Octopus Eraser. If I do that, I'll make sure to mention it.


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up, Balloon was waiting for me outside the tent.

"(Something's gonna happen.") It did feel that way, for the winds had become much stronger. All the 'Tessie Watchers' were close to the water.

"What's going on?" Nobody answered me because they were too busy staring at the water. Suddenly, Balloon started running off towards the water.

"(Come on! It's over here!)" He was pointing towards the lake, where the water was moving.

"(Give me some gum!") When a monkey tells you to do something, I suggest you do it unless it's something really stupid. I gave him some gum, and he blew a giant bubble and floated over to where the water was moving. All of a sudden, a huge purple dinosaur-like monster rose from the water.

"Over there! Look! It's Tessie!" Tessie's fan club was running towards us, but before they got here, Tessie, bent down and let me climb on its back. I wasn't sure what to do, and Balloon pulled me onto the creature's back. As soon as I was on, Tessie began to swim away across the lake.

"Wait! Come back!" The Tessie Watchers had all crowded around near where Tessie left, staring at us as we left.

After about twenty minutes, Tessie got to the other side of the lake and lowered its neck. Balloon dragged me off, and Tessie disappeared into the water. Balloon started walking towards a small mountain, and I followed. We got to the entrance of a cave on a small cliff with an octopus statue blocking the path down the cliff.

"How did a statue get here and why an octopus of all things?"

"(That wasn't there last time I was here.)" I thought Balloon lived in the store before I came.

"When was the last time you were here?"

"(About two weeks ago.)" The bottom of the statue was buried pretty deep, and looking under the snow, I could tell it had not been dug into recently.

"Well, let's keep going." I could see another opening at the bottom of the cliff. "If we go through the cave we should find a way to get down there."

"(Okay let's go!)" We went into the cave to find a kind of maze. There were some presents, wrapped in white paper with red ribbons, and there were some ducks running around. One of the ducks saw us and ran up to me. Suddenly, I felt something like a shock go through my head. Instinctively, I held up the pop gun and shot at the duck, which dodged and started pecking at me. I shot again and hit it. The duck flew back against a wall, then got up, looked around, and walked away.

"That was weird… Are all the animals acting weird like this?"

"(Yeah, I'm not sure why though.)" I had a feeling he wouldn't know, I didn't think anybody did, at least at that point.

When we got outside, there was a man sitting at the entrance. He was wearing overalls and looked like he was freezing.

"Hey, are you alright?" I was hoping that he wasn't completely frozen.

"Hunh? What?" He had fallen asleep, and looked surprised to see us. "Ah so you got through my maze?"

"What?"

"The maze in the cave. I made it, I'm Brick Road, and I'm trying to become a human dungeon, a dungeon man." Weird goal, but at this point, I believed anything could happen.

"Uh, good luck with that…"

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm trying to get to Stonehenge. Do you know how to get there?"

"Stonehenge? There's a cave a little further down. The exit of that cave is right in front of Stonehenge." Wow, that's convenient.

"Thanks, see you." And with that, we left.

"(That guy was creepy.)"

"Not arguing."

We found the cave and went inside. There was a ledge with a rope, but the rope was piled up at the top.

"(Give me some gum!)"

"What?" Sudden commands receive sudden answers.

"(Give me some gum so I can throw the rope down.)" Somehow, I managed to forget that Balloon could fly if he has gum. I pulled out the gum packet and gave him a piece. There wasn't much left at this point, and I was hoping we wouldn't use all of it before we got to the lab. Balloon blew a giant bubble and floated to the top of the ledge, where he threw the rope down. When I got to the top, the first thing I saw was what seemed to be an exit to the cave, but there was a strange light coming from it.

"What is that?" I walked up to it, and I heard a voice in my head.

_Only Ness can open the path._

Ness… he was the boy who was talking to me before. Guess I would be coming back to Winters, Tony would be happy.

We went a little further and found another exit, which was right behind Stonehenge.

"That really was convenient." I looked at Balloon, who seemed to have his eyes glued straight ahead. I looked and saw a female monkey, who seemed to be waiting for something.

"(Well, this is where I leave you. I'll still be around here if you need me. Or Tessie.)" And with that Balloon took the rest of the gum and ran to the female monkey. She got up, and they ran around Stonehenge to a small wooded area. Balloon stopped and waved to me, then pointed a little further down from where I was standing.

"(The lab is right down there. That's where you wanted to go right?)" And with that, he ran off.

As I started towards the lab, I saw some cavemen walking around Stonehenge. One saw me and started running towards me, so I ran through the giant rocks to try and avoid him. When I got to the middle of the rock circle, I felt the ground cave in under me, and I fell into what looked like a base or hideout of some sort. I walked a little further, only to be blocked by a statue of what looked like a doll with no arms or legs. It was completely blocking the path so I went back. When I got back up to Stonehenge, I looked around to make sure none of the cavemen were following me and I continued to the lab.

* * *

The octopus statue is the pencil statue, the statue of the doll is the eraser statue.


	4. Chapter 4

I stood outside the lab for about half an hour, wondering if I really should go in. It was starting to get dark, and a little colder, so I went inside, a little afraid of what would happen.

"Hello?" I looked around and saw an old man, pacing back and forth near a table. I walked up to him and waited to see if he would notice me.

"Oh, hello there young man. Who are you, if you don't mind me asking?" That was probably the most hurtful thing anyone had ever asked me.

"I'm Jeff… your son." He looked at me in surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry it's been a long time. Ten years maybe? You've grown a lot."

"I wish you would've come to visit every once in a while." This was really painful for me, he didn't seem happy to see me at all, he wouldn't even look at me for more than five seconds at a time.

"I've been to busy with my work. Would you like a donut?"

"No, I want to know why you left me alone for so long." He stopped what he was doing and looked me in the eyes for the first time.

"I had no choice. I couldn't bring you here with me and I thought that boarding school would be the best place for you."

"How could anyone think that it would be a good idea to put a three year old in a place that has no parental figures and no connection to the outside world?" I was getting upset and he didn't even seem to care… or notice.

"I'm sure it couldn't have been that bad."

"What about during every break, when everyone got to go home to visit their families, and I was stuck there ALONE because YOU never bothered to visit?"

"I had no time to waste to…"

"Time to WASTE? That's what you think of me? Just something that's there, but has no importance to you? WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?"

"I couldn't stay with you."

"Why not?" I looked up at him, and saw his reason right away.

"YOU COULDN'T STAY WITH ME BECAUSE I CAN SEE PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS? WHAT KIND OF REASON IS THAT?"

"I was worried that something was wrong with you. I sent you to that school hoping that they could finish blocking your 'power'."

"FINISH?? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"

"Not much, I managed to change most of your 'psychic' abilities into intelligence."

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"

"It made more sense for you to be smart than for you to have some strange power."

"DID YOU EVER THINK ABOUT HOW I WOULD FEEL?"

"You were 16 months old when I did this. I thought it would be easier on you if you wouldn't be able to remember anything."

"So how did you even know I had any powers?"

"You set the house on fire seventeen different times. Your mother left after the third or fourth time saying she how she wouldn't come back until you stopped. After I told her I got rid your mind powers, she said she wouldn't return to someone who would mess around in their own child's brain."

"Well, she's right. If I knew this, I would have found some other way to get to Threek. I'm taking the Sky Walker, and I refuse to see you as my father." I walked over to machine, got inside and set the destination for Threek. When I looked to close the door, Dr. Andonuts was looking at me, still showing no emotion.

"Maybe I'll see you again in another ten years."

"I never want to see you again as long as I live." And with that, I closed the door and started the Sky Walker.

The trip to Threek wasn't too long, but it gave me enough time to clear my mind. I reached to the back of my head and found the scar I had wondered about for so long. I couldn't believe that he would do something so horrible to me. I looked out the window and saw that I was leaving Doko Doko Desert and entering Threek. I wasn't sure if it was possible, but I tried calling out to Ness and Paula.

"Where are you?" The Sky Walker was circling around the town, waiting for another destination.

"_Jeff? Is that you?"_ I was surprised that they heard me.

"Yeah, I'm above Threek. Do you know where you are?"

"_I'm not sure, but maybe we can attract the craft your in…"_

"I think it's getting something." The machine was starting to move towards the graveyard. It stopped moving, and it seemed like it was about to crash.

"GO TO THE DOOR!" I yelled right before I fell through the ground into a small room.

As the smoke cleared, I saw the people who had called me all the way out here.

"Jeff?" Paula walked towards the smashed ship and helped me out. "You okay?"

"Yeah…"

"Nice to finally meet you." Ness looked happy, "Also good to finally get out of here."

"Sorry it took so long."

"It's okay, Winters is pretty far from here. Anyway, you can open the door right?"

"Yeah, but I want to know what exactly is going on here."

"I guess you have a right to know everything, since we're going to be traveling together for a bit."

We sat down, and Ness and Paula filled me in on everything that had happened so far.

"So we have to find these Sanctuaries…" I thought back to the cave near Stonehenge, "I think I saw one on the way down here."

"Really? Are you sure?" Paula seemed a bit surprised.

"Yeah, it said something about you, Ness. Like you're the only one who can get in there."

"Guess it's because of the Sound Stone. Buzz-Buzz said I needed it to get to the Sanctuaries." He pulled out the small rock and pressed it to his forehead. "It's such a nice melody so far. You want to hear?" He held out the rock, and I took it. I held it to my head, and heard a very faint sound.

"It's kind of hard to hear, but it is nice."

"Hard to hear? It seems pretty loud to me." Ness looked confused. Paula took the stone and listened.

"It's not quiet at all." They both looked at me in confusion. I knew why I couldn't hear it as well as they could, and made a mental note to find a way to fix what my father had done.

Ness got up, "Ready to get out of here?" He helped up Paula, then me. I walked to the door, pulled out the tool Maxwell gave me and had the door open in a matter of seconds. Paula took the key, "We are definitely holding on to this. You never know when you'll need it." She gave it back and I stuck it in my bag.

"Well, let's go then!" Paula led the way into the graveyards of Threek.

* * *

Finally finished! Sorry if it's a bit cheesy...

Sky Walker = Sky Runner

Doko Doko Desert = The desert... Sorry I'm not sure what the desert is called in the US version ^w^''

If I missed any translations please tell me!


	5. Chapter 5

We climbed out of a grave, and I looked around. The sky was dark and there was nobody around.

"This place is creepy…"

"Welcome to Threek." Ness looked around, "Guess we lucked out. No zombies yet.'

Paula sighed, "Let's get to the circus tent before they find us." She led the way to a tent, where it seemed most of the people in town had gathered. We went inside, and overheard parts of different conversations. "The other tent…" "Master Belch…"

"There's too many people talking to get a good idea of what's going on…" Ness thought for a minute. "Okay, we'll each focus on one person for a bit then we'll meet outside." Ness closed his eyes in concentration. Paula moved to another part of the tent and did the same. I went around and tried to focus on one woman's thoughts. After a little bit I heard Ness's voice. _Let's go outside._ I left and saw Ness and Paula waiting for me near a cage.

"Okay, so what did you get?"

"The other circus tent supposedly holds the secret to defeating Master Belch." Paula looked towards the other tent.

"I got the same thing." Ness sighed, "What about you?" He didn't seem too hopeful at this point.

"Something about reporting to Master Belch, and the zombies are getting restless."

Ness perked up, "I think you found the zombie girl…" he walked back in and looked around. "Yeah, It's her."

Paula looked worried, "Should we attack her?"

I answered that one, "I don't think so. She looks like a normal person, and if we were to attack her, people would think we're crazy."

Ness nodded, "Good point. She hasn't done anything to anyone else. Why don't we go check out the other tent."

We started walking toward the edge of town.

"Hey a dog!" Paula started walking over to the dog, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Don't go over there."

She looked confused, "What's wrong?"

"There's something weird about that thing…" The dog turned around to face us, and we could see that half of its face was missing.

Ness pulled out his bat, "you guys ready?"

I took out my gun and Paula nodded.

"Alright then! Let's go!"

Ness hit the dog's back, and a loud cracking sound was heard. I took the chance to shoot it a few times. It lunged at Ness and bit his arm.

"Urg…" He pulled back holding onto his arm, which was bleeding.

"Ness! You okay?" I ran over to him.

"Yeah, just give me a sec. Paula, finish it off!"

She nodded. "Stand back." She held her hand out in front of her and closed her eyes. As I watched, her hand started glowing red. "PK… FIRE!" A giant fireball flew hit the dog, which burned up instantly.

I stared at her. "Wow…" _Was I able to do that?_ I was amazed and upset at the same time.

"Well, now that that thing's out of the way – TO THE TENT!" Ness seemed overly hyper as we continued to the tent. I looked at his arm, and saw that it wasn't bleeding anymore. In fact, the only sign that he had been hurt was the blood on his shirt.

When we got to the tent, I had the same feeling I got from the dog. I held up my gun and shot the opening in the tent.

"Why did you…" Paula stopped as the tent shrieked.

Ness looked at me in amazement. "How did you know?"

"How about we talk after we beat this thing?"

He grinned, "Good idea." He held out his hand pointing two fingers at the tent. "PK… ROCKIN!" I dug through my bag and found a big bottle rocket.

"Alright! Stand back guys." I set off the rocket and the tent exploded. "We win."

"Jeff…" Ness looked at me.

"Hm?"  
"Should we be worried that you have explosives?"

"No... It's not like I blow stuff up for fun."

"Well, okay then."

"…All the time." I laughed nervously.

"Those seem powerful. I wouldn't waste them if I were you." His eyes seemed to say 'or else'.

"Well that was the only _big_ bottle rocket I had."

"Which means you have others. Whatever. Let's go."  
"Um… guys?" Paula's face told me she agreed with Ness. "There's something where the tent was."

Ness walked over to a small jar and picked it up. "What is this?"

I took the jar from him. "It's Fly Honey. Master Belch loves this stuff."

"And how do you know that?"

"I can tell by looking at it. Can't you?"

He looked shocked. "No, I can't. Looks like none of us share powers. This makes things more interesting though, and possibly easier." He smiled. "It's getting late, what do you guys say to the hotel?"

Paula shuddered. "As long as the zombie girl isn't there."

"Agreed."

As we walked to the hotel, some music came from Ness's backpack. It seemed familiar somehow. He pulled out a phone, "Hello? Oh, hi Apple Kid. Zombie Paper? That sounds useful. We're in Threek. Okay I'll look out for him. Bye."

He turned to us, "Apple Kid said he's sending his new invention to us via Mach Pizza."

"Who's Apple Kid?"

"He's an inventor from Twoson. He made this phone and a machine that gets rid of octopus."

"Would it destroy the octopus statue I passed in Winters?"

"Yeah, I saw one like that in Peaceful Rest Valley."

"One last question, what was that tune that played when the phone rang? I feel like I've heard it before." I could tell Paula had the same feeling.

"You too? I'm not sure what it is, but I feel like I should. Kind of like a distant memory."

"I find it weird that we all recognize that tune, but nobody knows why." Paula looked at us, a bit puzzled.

I sighed, "I guess it doesn't really matter."

"Hey kids!" We turned to face the voice, and saw a man wearing a Mach Pizza shirt. "I'm supposed to deliver this to someone named Ness, but this place is creeping me out so let's just say you're Ness." He gave Ness a package and ran off.

"Guess we lucked out there, huh?" I laughed.

Paula smiled, "Good thing he saw us first. Is that the Zombie Paper?"

Ness opened the box, "I think so, and it looks and smells nasty." He handed me the box and grinned, "So what are we supposed to do with this?"

"We have to put it in a large empty room and wait overnight. I think the circus tent will work."

"Alright then, let's leave this there then get some sleep." We walked the rest of the way to the tent and Ness emptied the contents of the box onto the floor.

Paula yawned, "I'm tired, let's go to sleep."

"Sounds good to me." Ness stretched his arms as the phone rang again. "Hello?" It was Apple Kid again, while they were talking, I thought about the tune again. I suddenly started feeling lightheaded, "…Ni…" and I fell to the ground, out cold.

* * *

I finally finished! I don't think there are any translation notes here, but I may be wrong. Hope you like it!


	6. Chapter 6

When I woke up, Paula was leaning over me, "Jeff! Are you okay?" I sat up and looked around, we were in a hotel room – Ness was still sleeping on the couch – Paula looked really worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You just passed out last night! Ness and I were worried!"

"I did?"

She was surprised - "You can't remember?"

I shook my head; "I remember getting the zombie paper, but nothing after that."

She sat down, "Oh… we left the paper in the tent and on the way to the hotel, Apple Kid called again and you just fainted while Ness was talking to him."

I sighed; this wasn't the first time something like that happened. I don't know why I randomly pass out, or why I can never remember when it happens.

"You sure you're okay?" I could tell that she was still worried, even though she tried to hide it.

I got off the bed, "I'm fine, I was probably just tired. Does this hotel have room service? I'm starving!"

She laughed, "Okay, let's get some food. Hopefully Ness will be up when it gets here, or he may be frozen before we leave." She held up her finger where an ice crystal had appeared, and she made it hit the sofa right above Ness's head.

"Hunh?" Ness woke up a little as the ice hit the back of his neck. "Whah wassat?" We both laughed as he turned over and went back to sleep.

When the food came, we spent about ten minutes trying to wake Ness up. Paula finally got him by dropping an ice cube down his shirt. "WHAAA! WHAT THE HELL?"

"Time for breakfast!" Paula was laughing while he tried to get the ice out of his shirt.

"I'm not tucking my shirt in anymore. Geez couldn't you find another way to get me up?"

"Would you prefer this next time?" I held up a party popper and he scowled at me.

"You're gonna pay for this."

"How about we eat and forget about this. We got omelettes, toast and something we think you'll like."

"Should I be scared?"

"Well if you don't want it I'll take it." I picked up the Salisbury steak we ordered him and walked to the table.

"No wait!"

I looked at him innocently, "I thought you didn't want it."

"I didn't say that! Give it baaaack…" Paula seemed closed to passing out from laughing so hard.

"Well, okay then." I gave him the plate and he scarfed it down. "I'm going to assume you really like steak."

He smiled wiping his mouth, "Always been my favorite."

Paula brought the rest of the food to the table, "And after that you'll probably eat some of our food too."

After we finished eating and checked out, we went back to the circus tent. It seemed that the whole town had gathered there.

Ness walked up to someone, "What's going on?"

The man seemed to be celebrating a little, "All the zombies are stuck in the tent! We can finally go outside without being attacked!"

Ness grinned and turned to Paula and me "Back to that gravestone then?"

"What gravestone?"

"Ah, you weren't here yet. There were zombies guarding a tombstone in the other graveyard. They were probably protecting something."

"Oh, okay. Hopefully those zombies are in the tent with the others."

Ness led the way to the graveyard and made a path through some trees where there was an opened grave.

Paula shuddered, "I wish we didn't have to go through there. It's creepy."

I sighed, "I don't think we have a choice though. What's the worst that could happen?" I thought for a moment, "Actually, it's probably best not to think about that. Let's go and we'll deal with everything once we get to it." We climbed down the rope ladder into a huge empty room.

"Looks like the Zombie Paper affected this place too."

"It's better that way. I'm sick of those things," Ness looked around, "Nothing but that pile of muck."

We started walking toward the blob and the ladder behind it; I stopped and held Ness and Paula back. "I think it would be a good idea to kill that thing before we keep going."

"It's alive?" Paula looked over at the pile again, "Eeew! It's moving!"

"Well, it doesn't look like it noticed us yet. Ness, give me the Fly Honey."

"Huh? Why?"

"That thing likes it."

He took the jar out of his backpack and handed it to me. "You sure about this?"

"Not a hundred percent sure, but it's worth a shot." I ripped some fabric off my jacket, which was almost completely destroyed, and used it to scoop some of the honey out. Ness looked confused for a second, and then nodded. I threw the fabric at the blob, which went crazy when it realized what the smell was.

Paula sat down, she looked like she was going to be sick, "Let's get this over with." I nodded and started shooting the blob, which didn't seem to notice although I could tell it was hurt. Ness pulled out his bat and started smashing it. After about a minute, the blob had splattered all around the room and was no longer moving. Paula was still on the ground, but she looked a little better.

I took her hand and pulled her up, "You okay?"

"Y-yeah…" She was blushing, and when he noticed, Ness started laughing. Paula glared at him, "I'm okay. Thanks, Jeff."

Ness was still laughing, "Sorry to interrupt, but how about we get out of here?"

I realized I was still holding Paula's hand, and blushed as I let go. "Yeah… Let's go."

We climbed out at the end of a river.

Ness shielded his eyes, "Woah, it's bright out here."

I took off my jacket, "It's warm..."

He looked at me "What? It seems kind of chilly to me."

I laughed. "You have no idea what cold is."

We started walking along the river until we came to an opening in the rock wall.

Paula looked further up the river. "I guess we're going in here. There's only a waterfall up there."

Ness and I nodded and we followed her through the cave. Another opening led us to the entrance of a large valley.

I stopped, "There's something living here."

Ness looked at me. "Should we be worried?"

"I don't think so. But whatever it is isn't human."

"Can you tell-" Ness stopped as what looked like a head with a giant nose ran past us into the valley. We followed it but stopped dead when we saw the actual valley.

Ness stared. "What are those?!"

* * *

Steak - Hamburg steak - Salisbury steak


	7. Chapter 7

We stood at the entrance to the valley, staring at the strange creatures.

"What are they?" Ness asked again.

"I… don't know…"

Paula giggled, "They're cute!" She walked over to one and started talking to it.

"They won't attack us, right?" He seemed overly cautious about a lot of things. He always had a worried look on his face.

"MR. SatURn HURt nO OnE, BOinG!" One of the creatures was looking up at us. It was a head with a huge nose and whiskers, with a red ribbon tied to its single hair.

Ness stared at it for a little bit. "What are you?"

"iS MR. SatURn!" Its eyes seemed to smile at us. "All iS MR. SatURn!"

A few more Mr. Saturns had gathered around us, and one had settled itself on Paula's head.

After we finally got the Saturns to calm down, Ness went off somewhere muttering something about clothes. The Mr. Saturn on Paula's head had fallen asleep, and she was sitting still to avoid waking it.

I sat down next to her, "Were things this crazy from the beginning?"

She laughed. "Nothing like this, I haven't been this relaxed in a while."

"That's not good…"

"We haven't really had a chance. We get attacked almost everywhere we go."

"Which is why Ness looks so nervous all the time…"

"Yeah. Things aren't easy for him. His dad works overseas, and can't go home often. Ness has to help out his mom and sister more then he should have to. He worries about them all the time since he left home."

"What about you?"

"My life was pretty normal, except for my powers obviously. I helped my parents run a preschool in Twoson until I got kidnapped."

"What?!"

"Yeah, that's how I met Ness. He saved me from the Happyhappyists. When we left the village, everything was back to normal."

"What's happening to the world…"

"I'm not exactly sure, but we're the only ones who can do anything about it."  
"Yeah…"

"So Jeff, what's you're family like?"

I hesitated. The one thing I didn't want to talk about. "I don't have a family. I've lived at school as long as I can remember."

Paula gasped. "I'm so sorry!"

"I'm not."

"What? Why?"

"My mom left when I was a baby, and my dad did something horrible to me before leaving me at school. I don't even know who they are." I didn't want to lie to her, but the need to cut myself off from _him_ was more important.

"I'm sure they didn't mean to hurt you." Why did she only see good things in people?

"My mom, maybe not. But _he_ did. I know he did."

"Jeff… you can't-"

"Paula! Jeff!" We both looked up to see Ness running towards us, now wearing a yellow shirt, green pants and a matching hat. "I got us some new clothes!" He dropped a small pile of clothing in front of each of us.

I picked up my pile, "Where did you get these?"  
"NOT IMPORTANT!" His face turned slightly pink and Paula was laughing herself to tears.

"Anyway!" Ness helped Paula up, "Let's find a place to sleep."

"COmE! SlEEP HERE BOinG!" We all cried out in surprise. "FOllOw!" The Saturn led us into one of the buildings, where we found five mats on the ground.

"Can StaY HERE!"

"Thanks~" Paula picked him up and hugged him. …Though honestly, I couldn't really be sure if it was a boy… some of the Mr. Saturns seemed to be female. And the little ones had to come from somewhere…

Ness looked around the room. "Phone..?" He looked at the Saturn again.

"Can USE PHOnE! Can USE all! All frEE!"

Ness grinned, climbed up to a small platform with a phone and quickly dialed a number. As he talked to what seemed to be his sister, I lay down on one of the mats and closed my eyes. _Tony_! I could see my school in my head… _Tony! You can't stay in there!_ Tony? _Leemelone…_ Was this actually happening? _Tony! Come out!_ I saw an image of Tony coughing up blood. Tony! This couldn't be happening! I had to make sure…

"Jeff!" Paula? I opened my eyes and saw her sitting on the platform with the phone. "You want to call home?"

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." She jumped down and I picked up the phone and dialed the only number I knew. Three rings before I got an answer. Just like always.

"Hello? Maxwell Labs."  
"Hi Max."

"Jeff?! Is that you?!"  
"Yeah, it's me. How is everything? How's Tony? Is he okay?"  
"…So you know already?"

"…I saw something…I was hoping it wasn't true…"

"He's been locked in his room since you left. We've been trying to get in, but he blocked the door with who knows what. He won't answer to anyone and he isn't eating. But he may talk to you…"

"Please." The line went quiet for a few seconds. "Tony..?"

"I said I'm not coming out… Leave me alone…"

"Tony… It's me. It's Jeff."

"Jeff?!" There was a crash as Tony ran to the phone. "Jeff! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. What about you..?"  
"…I was hoping I would be able to talk to you before it ended…"  
"What? What are you talking about?"

"I won't be here much longer…"  
"WHAT?! Are you insane?!"

"Maybe I am… I miss you Jeff. Everything's been worse than usual since you left. I'm giving up."

"You can't! You don't need me there! You've been fine other times!"

"I really haven't… and it's not just that… I've been thinking a lot… and I have no reason to keep going… Just going to end everything…"

"No! Find someone to talk to! Talk to Max!"  
"Too late for that… it's over for me…"  
"Tony!"

"I love you Jeff." He hung up.

"TONY!" I called Maxwell again.

"Hel-"  
"Get into Tony's room now!"  
"Jeff? What's wrong?!"  
"He's going to kill himself! You have to stop him! Please!"  
"What?! Are you sure?!"

"He seemed serious! Hurry! We had a box of rat poison in our closet! He said it was too late to do anything! Please! Hurry!" I heard the phone drop to the floor as Maxwell ran out of the room. "Hurry…" I could feel Ness and Paula watching me as I tried not to cry. After about ten minutes Maxwell came back. "Jeff?"  
"Is he okay?!"  
"He's on his way to a hospital now. If you hadn't seen anything… well thank goodness you did. Tony should be fine."  
I sighed. "Let me know what happens."  
"I will. Don't worry."  
"Thanks…" I hang up and went back down to my mat.

"Jeff?" I looked over at Ness. "Your friend will be fine."  
"I hope so…"  
"Don't worry. He will. I know he will." He touched his finger to his forehead. "Trust me."

I suddenly felt much better. "I do. Thanks"

"How about we get some sleep?"  
"Yeah." We all lay down and Ness and Paula fell asleep almost instantly. I closed my eyes and focused. _Tony… don't give up. Promise me you won't give up._ I knew he could hear me, even if he couldn't answer. _You'll be fine._ I turned over and tried to get some sleep.

_Jeff… Why did you stop me… Next time… I won't say anything to you… Just let me die…_

_

* * *

_

Yes, Tony is suicidal._  
_


	8. Chapter 8

_I'm back~ Why did this take so long? Because I'm lazy. I have no idea when I'll keep working on this. Short chapter is short. Enjoy~_

* * *

I couldn't sleep. Every time I tried I kept seeing memories of Tony. All the times he nearly died. I looked over at Ness and Paula, both had been asleep for a couple hours already. I got up and walked outside. At first it seemed like no one was around, but as my eyes adjusted I saw something, or some_one_, moving around. It couldn't be a Saturn, it was a human figure. I looked back inside to make sure it wasn't Paula or Ness. They were both still asleep. I followed the person at a distance. He wasn't wearing any clothing, and looked like he had a ribbon in his hair. I followed him until he went into one of the caves, at which point I sat outside. I heard him talking.

"I hate humans. I hope they get out of here soon."

"You know we can't kick them out." A girl's voice answered him. "They're supposed to 'save' us from the puke remember? And they gotta stay until they find that Sanctuary too."  
"We don't need saving. We're more powerful than they could ever hope to be. And someone should just lead them to the stupid sanctuary. We've all been there."

Wait... Sanctuary? Like the ones we were looking for? Who were these people?

"Stop complaining." The girl spoke again. "Or at least wait until the human that followed you gets out of here. They aren't supposed to know that we know anything.

It took me a minute to register what she had said, and by that time, she and the boy were standing in front of me. She wasn't wearing anything either, aside from a ribbon holding her hair back.

"So why did you follow him anyway?"  
I couldn't answer. I couldn't move. Not from fear, but some outside force keeping me down. The girl put her hand to my head.

"Nightmares don't give you the right to snoop around."  
"I'll get him back." The boy was holding what looked like a ball of blue light. The girl nodded and picked my up as the boy pushed the ball into my chest.

* * *

"Jeff wake up!" Ness shook me awake. "We need to get going!"

I sat up and looked around. I was back in the room where we had slept. I could see Paula outside. Ness was looking at me impatiently. I stretched and put my hand to my chest. What had happened last night? Was I dreaming?

I shook my head and took my pajama shirt off.

"Hey, what's that scar?"

"What?" I moved my hand to the back of my head, thinking Ness had seen what was there.

"What's that from?" He was looking at my chest. I looked down and saw a burn mark in a perfect circle. So I did really see those two.

"I don't know." I could tell he didn't believe me.

"Well, hurry and get dressed so we can get moving okay?" I nodded as he left.

I looked around for my school uniform, but couldn't find it anywhere. Ness had given me some new clothes. A green t-shirt and dark green shorts. I put those on, wondering where Ness had found them.

* * *

We set off, and for some reason, I ended up carrying all our bags. "So where are we going anyway?" Ness had not mentioned anything to me or Paula about where we were headed.

"I talked to some of the Saturns. They said something about the waterfall we saw on our way to the valley." He seemed a little worried.

"Ness, are you okay?" Paula asked.

"I'm fine. It's nothing." Paula and I weren't convinced at all.

* * *

We reached the waterfall and found a passage behind it.

"P-p-passssswooord"

Ness looked at us, "We're supposed to wait three minutes." His right hand was glowing. "I don't feel like waiting." He blasted the door open and we went inside.


	9. Chapter 9

This story will not be updated again.


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